For Laurist, the year 1784 was a rare year that allowed him to live comfortably. His family's territory was thriving, and there were no more enemies around. In the past, he didn't dare to slack off for even a moment in order to protect his family. If he wasn't preparing for war, he would desperately develop his family's strength and territory, or lead troops to defeat his family's enemies …
Finally, he could live a peaceful life in his family's territory. Everything in his family's territory was on the right track. The desolate north had now become a symbol of prosperity. There were new houses rising from the ground, bustling markets, newly opened shops and workshops, and endless green farmlands. For the people who had suffered from the chaos of war, this was a land full of hope and peace...
Laurist felt that this year was a harmonious and stable one. The second prince was busy integrating the eleven central provinces. Instead of using policies to pacify the people, he focused on expanding his army and preparing for war. All resources were tilted towards armaments, which greatly suppressed the recovery and development of the people's livelihood and handicrafts in the eleven central provinces. He even had to spend more than 400,000 gold coins to place an order for daily necessities with the Norton family.
According to Volibel's spy in the central region, after two years of war, the population of eleven provinces in the central region was reduced to about three and a half million people. There were seven provinces that were still in good condition. Using these seven provinces, His Highness had rebuilt seven corps and two garrison corps, which amounted to about three and a half million soldiers. It was truly a militaristic strategy.
But this time, the second prince had used the method of stationing the army. While commanding the army to farm and open up wastelands, he also trained the young soldiers to awaken their combat aura. It seemed that the second prince had learned his lesson and was prepared to spend a few years to train an elite army. He wasn't like before, when he had 300,000 soldiers but only a few of them could be used. In order to support these 300,000 soldiers, the people of the Andinac Kingdom were impoverished to this day.
Because the second prince was expanding his army, Fatty Shi reminded Laurist to be careful. There was no telling when the second prince would suddenly turn against the Norton family. Buckingham laughed out loud and told Fatty Shi that the king would not be so irrational. The reason why he recruited more than 300,000 soldiers was to take control of the provinces that were forcibly occupied by the Trade Union.
Furthermore, even if the second prince wanted to deal with the Norton Family, how much of an advantage would his 300,000-strong army have over the Norton Family? Furthermore, he was not connected to the Northern Territory. If he wanted to launch a surprise attack, he would have to first conquer the Southern Province, which would not be able to do much damage to the Norton family. As soon as his army enters the Southern Province, we will be prepared and can make a perfect response.
Other than the Second Prince, who was enduring hardships and preparing for war in the eleven central provinces, Laurist was also very surprised by the changes in the Fisablon Family. After spending a winter in the Northern Lands, Grand Duke Fisablon returned to the Eastern Barren Province and reorganized his family's armed forces. He disbanded the three border ranger corps and the garrison corps of Crouching Tiger Castle, and reorganized them into two garrison corps of 28,000 men and two border ranger corps of 45,000 men each. He placed a garrison corps and a border ranger corps in the Jinchuan Province and the Eastern Barren Province respectively.
From a certain point of view, Grand Duke Fisablon's military reorganization had the meaning of crippling his own martial arts, reducing the Fisablon Family's armed forces by nearly 20,000 men. However, this action greatly reduced the hostility and suspicions of the Filim and Norton Families. After all, the border ranger corps were famous for surprise attacks. Reducing the three corps to two also meant that the Fisablon Family had no intention of starting a war.
In June, Duke Gammus' Snow Salt Merchant Guild organized a large caravan and brought nearly a million gold coins of goods to the Eastern Barren Province. They went deep into the Northeastern Great Plains, and under the protection of one of the Fisablon Family's border ranger corps, they held a large market meeting to trade directly with the Grassland Barbarian tribes. It took them four months to go and trade. When the caravan returned in October, Duke Gammus grinned and reported the good news to Laurist. Nearly a million gold coins of goods had brought the Snow Salt Merchant Guild a profit of more than two million gold fords. Duke Gammus had already begun preparing for the caravan to bring even more goods to trade next year …
Laurist didn't find it strange that the caravan could make such a large profit. The Northeastern Great Plains was so big, and there were countless Grassland Barbarian tribes living on it. Although the Fisablon Family was known as the overlord of the Northeastern Great Plains, the area they occupied and operated in was only the southeastern part of the Northeastern Great Plains. It was at most a third of the area. However, they had always firmly controlled the trade routes of the Northeastern Great Plains. Without their permission and protection, no caravan could enter deep into the Northeastern Great Plains to trade with the Grassland Barbarian tribes.
In the past, the Fisablon Family had bought a large amount of daily necessities and goods from the Northern Lands and the Snow Salt Merchant Guild. In reality, they had only sold these goods to the Grassland Barbarian tribes for two or three times the price, and swallowed the huge profits in the middle. This was also one of the reasons why Laurist had attacked the Fisablon Family back then. He wanted to control the Fisablon Family's trade routes. On one hand, it was to suppress the expansion of the Fisablon Family's influence, and on the other hand, it was to get a share of the profits from trading with the Grassland Barbarian tribes.
This time, when Duke Gammus organized the Snow Salt Merchant Guild's caravan to head to the Fisablon Family's territory, Laurist reminded him to first look through the trade records with the Fisablon Family. He told him not to arrogantly bring over the goods and daily necessities that he thought the Grassland Barbarian tribes needed, and not to do the same as the goods that the Fisablon Family had purchased back then. Those goods were no longer rare after the Fisablon Family sold them to the Grassland Barbarian tribes, and they could not be sold for a price. It was best to bring those daily necessities and goods that the Fisablon Family had not purchased before.
Duke Gammus humbly listened to Laurist's advice and carefully looked through the types of daily necessities and goods that the Fisablon Family had purchased back then. He found two very good business opportunities. First, the daily necessities and goods that the Fisablon Family had purchased were all durable. They could withstand falling and were very practical, and most of them were cheap. Second, the daily necessities and goods that the Fisablon Family had purchased were only three types: Snow Salt, Tea Bricks, and Linen.
Duke Gammus's thoughts were very simple. He believed that the Grassland Barbarian tribes should have different levels of status, and that it was impossible for the Grassland Barbarian nobles to use the same daily necessities as the other Grassland Barbarians. Thus, he had the caravan bring over a lot of daily necessities and strong alcohol. As expected, these goods were very popular in the trade market, and their prices increased exponentially. The person in charge of the merchant guild was grinning from ear to ear.
Unlike Duke Gammus, who only wanted to organize a caravan to do business, Laurist turned his attention to the Munohara Province. The Munohara Province was a neighboring province of the Northlands. The iron chain bridge that the Gammus Family had built in the eastern part of the Northlands connected the two provinces, giving the Northlands an additional passage to the outside world.
Currently, the Munohara Province was occupied by the Norton Family and the Fisablon Family with the Socus River as the boundary. The Norton Family occupied two-thirds, while the Fisablon Family occupied one-third. However, when the Fisablon Family reorganized their armed forces, they had already withdrawn the Fourth Border Ranger Corps from the Munohara Province. Apart from the garrison of a few towns to the south of the Socus River, the Fisablon Family no longer had any armed forces.
Laurist's idea of the Munohara Province was to trade with the Grassland Barbarians. If the Munohara Province was also under the Norton Family's jurisdiction, Laurist was confident that he could turn it into a large market for trade with the Grassland Barbarians in the northeast. This was not a market that Duke Fisablon had allowed for a caravan to conduct trade once a year, but a market that was open all year round. It was easy to understand how much profit was involved in this.
However, before the ownership of the Munohara Province was confirmed, Laurist could not put his plans into practice. Nominally, the Munohara Province was under the jurisdiction of the Fisablon Family. This was not an order from the second prince, nor was it an order from the second prince, the King of Iberia. Instead, it was an honor bestowed by Chrison VII because Duke Fisablon had opened up a new Eastern Wasteland Province for the empire. Chrison VII had bestowed the newly opened Eastern Wasteland Province to Duke Fisablon as a hereditary territory. At the same time, he had also bestowed the Munohara Province to him.
This was also the reason why the second prince had no objections to the Fisablon Family owning three provinces as their territory. This was because Munohara Province and Eastern Wasteland Province were both bestowed by Chrison VII, and Jinchuan Province was a newly established province by Duke Fisablon. There was no problem with it being under Duke Fisablon's jurisdiction.
This was where Laurist's dilemma lay. If he wanted to take the Munohara Province from the Fisablon Family, even if Duke Fisablon was willing, the second prince would not agree. He would never allow the Norton Family to have another province under their jurisdiction. If Duke Fisablon gave up his jurisdiction over the Munohara Province, then Laurist could forget about it. The second prince would take it back and make it a territory under the direct jurisdiction of the royal family.
It's all that old fox's fault. If only the Fisablon Family was still hostile to the Northern Four Families Alliance, or if only my family's armed forces had occupied the entire Munohara Province before stopping the war and negotiating … Sometimes, Laurist thought that if he had occupied the entire Munohara Province, he could force Duke Fisablon to cede it to the Norton Family during the truce. That way, even if the second prince had objections and wanted to take it back, he would not be able to do anything. This was because it was the compensation obtained by the victors of the war. It could be considered a spoil of war, and the second prince would not be able to interfere even if he wanted to.
Now that Duke Fisablon had expressed his goodwill to the Northern Four Families Alliance and had even reduced the number of Rangers at the border, this was good news for the Northern Four Families Alliance. They could now remove the Fisablon Family's name from the list of enemies. Especially since he was Princess Silvia's grandfather and had become Laurist's relative. It was just like the saying in his previous life. If you were too familiar with him, it would be difficult to make a move on him. Laurist felt that he was the most vivid example of this saying.
Since he could not make a move on Duke Fisablon, Laurist could only focus on training and teaching his three disciples. After obtaining Laurist's approval, Redi happily pulled Genolio over and tied him up in a large iron ring. It took him more than three months to give Genolio the ability to see in motion.
Genolio, who was lying limp on the ground like a slug, suffered even more this time. Baron Freia, who originally wanted Laurist to accept his two sixteen-year-old twin brothers as disciples, immediately gave up on the idea. He decided to bring his two sons by his side and teach them personally. Although it was an honor to have Laurist as a disciple, Redi told Baron Freia that even disciples of Her Highness had to suffer. The twin brothers looked at the retching Genolio on the ground and backed off on their own, which made Redi feel very regretful.
Laurist spent his days training, accompanying Princess Silvia and his four concubines, teasing his precious son Anbelle who was crawling on the ground, teaching his three disciples, and dealing with the accumulated official business every once in a while. The days passed quickly, and in the blink of an eye, it was the end of the year. Fatty Shi had started to organize a grand celebration for the new year.
For Laurist, this year was mediocre. The only thing worth mentioning was that he knocked up the female knight, Aridoli, who came to visit his sister, Fina. After returning to Baron Dina, Aridoli wrote a letter to Laurist when she discovered that she was pregnant. In the letter, she scolded Laurist and announced that she was going to give birth to the child and carry the great Dina name. In the end, she asked Laurist to promise to leave a barony for the child in her belly for him to inherit when he grew up. Laurist did not know whether to laugh or cry.
To the many knights and civil officials of the Norton Family, 1784 was not the peaceful year that Laurist thought it would be. The family experienced a great purge that swept through the entire family territory. All the family knights and civil officials related to Maple Forest Manor were either sent to the Haneabada Archipelago or transferred from the Furious Bear City and the Northern Region to an insignificant position in Delemark Province or Winston Province.
In the eighth month, Laurist brought Princess Silvia and her four concubines, as well as Delia's son to the Bailugang Family Cemetery outside of Maplewood Manor to pay their respects to the Norton Ancestors. He only gave Lady Elina and the two young masters of Maplewood Manor a simple lecture before ignoring them. After the ceremony, he did not return to Maplewood Manor to rest. Instead, he headed straight for Nicole Academy. Finally, some people understood the reason for this great purge. From then on, Maplewood Manor was excluded from the family's management system, becoming an isolated place within the family's territory that everyone feared.
Before the end of the year, Duke Gammus came to the North to attend the New Year's celebration. At the same time, he brought along a new guest: the new Lord of Yungsandra Province, Duke Flondor. Nominally, he came to the North to attend the Norton Family's New Year's celebration. In reality, Duke Flondor was here to seek help from Laurist.
The Grand Duke of Vorendor, who had been transferred to the Yungesandra province, found that his new territory was barren. After settling down his subjects and his family's armed forces who had followed him to the new territory, he began to look for mineral resources to develop his territory. At the same time, he wanted to develop the Egret River Swamp in Yungsandra Province as a new farm.
However, Duke Flondor only had less than a million gold coins in his hands. This amount of money was not enough to develop his new territory. Thus, Duke Flondor visited the Gammus Family in the neighboring Sigler Province, hoping to borrow three million gold coins …
Duke Gammus was very straightforward. He said that he could borrow money as long as Laurist agreed. However, he did not have that much money. At most, he could only lend half of it. The Norton Family was rich, so Duke Flondor could ask Laurist for help. Besides, Laurist loved to develop his territory. He would definitely not let him down. Thus, Duke Flondor followed Duke Gammus to the North.
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